About 31 miles (50 km) long and culminating at 5,994 ft (1,827 m) above sea level, the Montagne de Lure once separated Provence from Dauphiné and dominated the harsh and mysterious Haute-Provence described by Jean Giono as a country of lavender, bramble groves, and old uses. Located at the crossroads of different climates and biotopes, it was then already known as a high place of biodiversity visited by both shepherds and herbalists. As early as the 16th century, many peddlers of medicinal plants – then called druggist merchants – stocked up on herbs there for the apothecaries and grocers of Marseille who resold the plants throughout France and even as far away as Constantinople.